Radioactive Relationship
by storyteller274
Summary: Antonia Bradshaw, also known as Tony, is assistant to Doctor Reed Richards. Once his proposal is accepted by Victor Von Doom, Tony gets a chance to go into space and change life for future generations. But instead it's her DNA that ends up changing after a cosmic storm hits. Now she has to deal with her new powers and also a younger playboy Storm taking interest in her.
1. feelings of inadequacy

_So this is it._

In front of her was a large dark metal statue, the bolts extremely visible from Tony's place 30 feet from the object. The statue was to depict Victor Von Doom, a man who had attended MIT and was now extremely wealthy from his company Von Doom Industries. Tony had only heard small stories of Mr. Von Doom from her friend and boss, Doctor Reed Richards, but his best friend Ben Grimm told her the "truth" as he put it.

That Victor was an asshole.

Still, after being turned down by NASA for Doctor Richards's plan to further help future generations, the three adults stood looking at the large statue.

"Typical of Victor Von Doom to build a 30 foot statue of himself." Ben said, also looking up at the black hunk of metal standing before them. Ben was a tall man, sporting a shaved head and wearing a beige turtle neck and a green overcoat. Ben is an astronaut that works for NASA and is trying to help his buddy Reed with his project. Reed, who was dressed in a casual yet professional looking suit and had his black hair in a neat business like manner, responded without taking his eyes away from the statue.

"Well, it's obviously aimed at first-time visitors to create feelings of smallness; inadequacy." Reed's voice seem to have gotten smaller through his explanation, the nerves settling in.

Ben looked at his friend before smiling and stating, "Good thing it ain't working." Reed turned to him and gave a nervous smile. Tony, who had been watching, smiled to herself before grabbing the briefcase holding the presentation out of Doctor Richards's hand. He looked quickly over to the red head who was also dressed quite professionally in a white sleeveless button up collared shirt with black dress pants and black heels.

"You ready Doctor Richards?" Tony asked with the smile still on her face. Reed looked up at the statue one more time before nodding and starting the walk into the building. Ben followed the two scientists, a question popping in his head.

"Reed, what are we doing here? This guy is fast-food, strip-mall science?"

"This wasn't our first stop, in case you forgot. Besides, Victor's not that bad. He's just a little...larger than life."

The three made their way into the building and up into the elevator where they reached the floor they would be talking to Victor Von Doom on. Tony and Reed set up the presentation and soon enough, Victor walked into the room, he didn't acknowledge the group till he sat at the head of the table across the large conference room and waved his hand at Reed to start.

"My research suggests that exposure to a high-energy cosmic storm borne on solar winds might have triggered the evolution of early planetary life." Reed explained, his 3-D model presentation showing the solar system and his findings. Ben and Tony stood off to the edge and watched Reed explain his proposal to the business man. "In six weeks, another cloud with the same elemental profile will pass Earth's orbit. A study conducted in space; could fundamentally advance our knowledge about the structure of the human genome, cure countless diseases, extend human life, give kids the chance to live longer, stronger, healthier-"

"Turn it off." Victor asked, cutting Reed off. Tony and Ben looked at each other as Reeds started to get a bit flustered at being cut off. "Please."

"I'm sorry, Mr. Von Doom sir, but Doctor Richards hasn't explained his full proposal." Tony said, stepping up a little bit towards said man.

"No, I think he has. Same old Reed - always stretching, reaching for the stars with the weight of the world on his back. But dreams don't pay the bills, do they?" Victor tossed something that landed on the table, and Ben, Tony and Reed all leaned forward to see that it was a copy of WIRED magazine with Reed on the cover. The cover story: **Reed Richards BANKRUPTED, Announces Grant Cutbacks**.

Trying to turn the situation around beck to his proposal, Reed started up again, "You remember when we were in school, we talked about working together. Well, that's what I was about to explain." Reed pressed on this phone that was controlling his 3-D model and the image changed from DNA to a 3-D representation of a satellite. More specifically, Victor's satellite. "The storm is deadly, but the shields on your station's control room are designed to protects any occupants inside."

The lights came up and Victor came into full view, letting Tony finally get a good look at him. The man looked like the suave type with slicked back brown hair and dressed in an open collared white shirt and gray suit. The way he looked at Doctor Richards made a small amount of anger bubble in her stomach.

"So it's not just my money you want. It's my toys." Victor said, staring down Doctor Richards. Reed didn't seem to notice or wasn't bothered by the look because he just shrugged at Victor's statement. But what the man said next caught everyone in the room off guard, "Tell me, if NASA doesn't trust you, then why should I?"

"How did he know about NASA?" Tony whispered to Ben, who looked shocked as well. Ben looked away from Reed to the woman next to him and shook his head. Victor then got up from his seat and laughed, making his way to the three.

"That's my job - to stay a step ahead, to know what other men don't."

"I can't take this." Ben mumbled, facing Reed. Reed looked over at his friend and whispered back,

"Ben, this is a business. Just work."

"He's right Ben - It is just business."

Tony turned to see a woman walk into the room, her blonde hair half up and half down while dressed in a brown suit. The woman smiled at Ben and seem to be avoiding looking at Doctor Richards all together. "I believe you both know my director of genetic research, Susan Storm." Victor announced, seeming to not include Tony.

"One more thing he's got." Ben mumbled to Reed who couldn't take his eyes off the new arrival. Tony looked at them confused but said nothing as Susan made her way over to them and hugged Ben. "Hey Susie."

"Hey. Oh it's so nice to see you. How's Debbie?" Susan asked.

"Great."

"Great." Susan then turned to Tony who was watching all this. Susan smiled and held out her hand to the younger woman. "Susan Storm."

Tony smiled back and took Susan's hand, shaking it, "Antonia Bradshaw, you can just call me Tony."

"Nice to meet you Tony."

"You too Susan."

Susan let go of the handshake to finally face Reed who was still looking at her. The smile that was on Susan's face faded as she looked at Reed. "Uh, how have you been?" Reed asked as an air of awkward tension filled the room.

"Never better." Susan said, holding out hand for a handshake. Reed reluctantly returned it, Ben looking between the two with sad eyes.

"This isn't going to be a problem is it?" Victor asked. Both Reed and Susan started saying different variations on no before getting cut off by Victor again, "Good. Then you are just in time to hear the great Reed Richards ask _me_ for help. You know you made a lot of folks at MIT feel like a junior high science fair, so you'll excuse me if I savior the moment."

"You back this mission," Reed started, a seriousness in his voice, "and I'll sign over a fair percentage of any applications-"

"The number is 75, and it's applications and patents." Victor cut off again. Tony wast starting to see a trend with Mr. Von Doom. Ben spoke up, sarcasm flowing from his mouth.

"What about his first born?"

"Ben."

Victor laughed, not at the sarcasm but what Tony thought was basking in the pleasure of being on top of all this. "Come on, twenty-five percent of a billion is enough to keep the lights on for a while, isn't it? Maybe you can pay off your fourth mortgage on the Baxter Building. Deal?"The man held out his hand to Reed, who seemed hesitant. After a couple seconds, Reed shook Victor's hand with a stronger grip then he really needed to. "Well then, to our future. Together. It's funny how things turn out, isn't it?"

"Hilarious." Reed said, forcing a smile on his face. Tony could tell just by looking at Doctor Richards that there was more to this story than she knew. After the awkward small talk between Doctor Richards and Victor, Tony packed up the presentation and grabbed the briefcase before walking to join Ben and Reed.

"He knew about NASA. Maybe he made the call to shut us down." Ben whispered to Reed, Tony listening in and nodding.

"It seems reasonable." She agreed.

"Ben, Tony. Think of all the people we can help if this works. Huh? Look, we got what we wanted; that's enough. A few days in space...It'll be great, what's the worst that can happen?" Reed asked. Tony's eyes widened at his last words, _oh god he just jinxed us._

The three made it to the elevator following Susan who was going to be showing them down. Once the doors closed, the tense atmosphere thickened until it became hard to breathe. "Reed, you should know those solar winds have been picking up speed." Susan said, breaking the silence.

"I've factored them into my coordinates."

"Right. Of course you did, in theory. It's a little different once your out there."

"I can assure you-"

"When are we leaving?" Ben asked, stopping their bickering. Both Susan and Reed looked at Ben who smiled like he didn't know what he was doing.

"I'll be scheduling the launch so you can call me in the morning for resources and crew." Susan took a card out from her pocket and held it out for Reed, who just smiled at her.

"I think I remember the number." He said. Susan though was quick to correct him.

"It's been changed."

Reed's smile whipped from his face and he took the card. Ben then cleared his throat to get Reed's attention. Reed backtracked till he was next to Ben and smiled at Susan, "As far as crew, I was hoping Ben could pilot the mission."

"We already have a pilot on our payroll," Susan said, but quickly added, "But you're welcome to ride shot gun. You remember my brother Johnny?"

Ben and Reed looked a bit shocked while Tony looked confused.

 _Is this Johnny character that bad?_ She thought.

Only a couple days later is when her question is answered.

 ** _so here's chapter 1 of Radioactive Relationship :) I hope it came out okay and I hope you all liked it_**


	2. here's johnny

It wasn't until a couple days later when Tony, Reed and Ben were heading to the station where they would be getting ready for the mission. Tony watched from afar as someone rode on a motorcycle right next to an expensive looking car before the car turned around and the motorcycle kept coming in their direction. Ben and Reed were watching the person through pairs of binoculars as Tony just stood there, not seeing the point in watching.

"Can't do it. Can not do it." Ben said, putting down his binoculars and walking away from the railing.

"External S.R.B.'s, orbital system engines. It's just like the shuttle you flew-"

Ben cut Reed off, anger and annoyance laced in his voice, "No! I cannot take orders from the underwear model."

"Oh, come on, now."

"That wingnut washed out of NASA for sneaking two Victoria's Secret wannabees into a flight simulator."

"Youthful high spirits."

"They crashed it into a wall." Ben said, staring Reed right in the face. Tony let out a laugh before getting a look from Ben and shutting up. "A flight simulator."

Doctor Richards took a second before sighing and looking at his best friend, "When have I ever asked you to do something you absolutely said you could not do?"

"Five times." Ben said, not missing a beat and holding up five fingers. He then started to walk away when Reed yelled to him.

"I had it at four."

"Well, this makes five!"

Watching Ben leave, Tony looked to Doctor Richards and asked what has been on her mind for the past couple of days. "Doctor Richards, is Susan's brother really that bad?"

"He's very...he can be a little too much sometimes." Reed explained. Tony nodded before following her boss down the stairs Ben had gone down. "You'll understand when you meet him."

* * *

Inside the building; Ben, Tony and Reed were getting ready for the launch. Reed was looking over some last minute calculations about the storm while Tony was double checking on the plants that Ben would be placing outside the station. Being a botanist as well an astrophysicist, Tony's job was to make sure the plants could all help the Earth later on. She was closing the capsule to one of the plants when a voice broke the small silence that had covered the room.

"Captain on the bridge!"

Tony's head shot up to Ben who had practically jumped up into a soldier like stance at the sound of the voice. There was a small flash before Tony turned and saw someone taking a picture of Ben. This guy looked around her age with short, almost buzzed cut, looking dark blonde hair and dressed in a skin tight blue suit. The man put down his arms and continued into the room, looking down at the picture he had just taken. "Digital camera: $254. Memory stick: $59. The look on you hard-ass former C.O.'s face when he finds out he's your junior officer: priceless." Reed had watched what happened with a hidden smile and Ben looked at the newcomer with what Tony could only call annoyance and hatred.

 _This must be Johnny._

Ben walked over to Johnny very slowly and stared at him with a frown on his face, and for a second Tony thought Ben was gonna slug the guy. But when he goes to grab his neck, Ben fixes the zipper to Johnny's suit. Johnny chuckles and looks up at the other man, "Thank you, that's so sweet."

"I can handle the ship," Ben says, trying to move past his anger. "I can even handle Mr. Blonde Ambition. But I don't know if I should be flying or doing _Swan Lake_ in these suits."

"You'd be the most graceful ballerina if we were doing _Swan Lake_ , Ben." Tony said with a smirk. She caught Johnny turning his head in her direction, so she turned and sent a small wave. The room was again intruded on when Susan walked in dressed in a similar suit to Johnny's, but the zipper was more open, revealing some cleavage to the group.

"Victor came up with them. The synthetics act as a second skin, adapting to your body's individual needs."

"See, that means it keeps the hot stuff hot and cool stuff cool." Johnny further explained, looking at Ben then to Tony as he was talking. The way he said it was like he was trying to explain to a bunch of third graders, which made Tony's view on the man a little sour.

"I got it." She said with a little force to get her point across, getting up from her spot and placing her plant near Reed's work. She saw Reed also stand up and look at Susan with shock.

"Wow. Fantastic." Reed's astonished voice did not go unnoticed by Tony, Ben and Susan. Susan smiled a little smugly about Reed's reaction, but then it fell when he continued on, "Material made from self-regulating, unstable molecules. I've been working on a formula for this."

Everyone in the room could sense the tension growing between Susan and Reed, you could probably cut it with a knife. "Great minds think alike. Here ya go Ben." Susan handed Ben a more silver suit which Tony assumed would go over the blue suit they all had to wear.

"Thanks sweetie."

"And this one is for you." Susan handed Tony's hers just as gently as she did Ben's and Tony sent her a small smile. But when it came to Reed, you could see the hostility. "Reed." Susan just threw the suit in Reed's direction, not looking back to see if he had caught it.

"Hey-ah Susan." Tony said, running up to meet the woman. Susan turned to her and smiled, "I was wondering if there was another place I could change. I don't think accidentally flashing my boss and your brother is a good way to start the trip."

Susan laughed and put her hand on Tony's back, pushing her to the door she entered in. "Yeah, there's the room I used to change. I can show you there."

"Thanks."

"Hey, you don't need to be shy sweetheart. We're all friends here." Johnny said as Tony went to grab her bag from the floor. She looked at him as he raised his eyebrows at her, trying to gauge her reaction. Before she could respond, Ben laughed at what Johnny had said.

"Yeah, kid. All peas in a pod." Ben said. That made Tony smile and head to her cubbie where she had her blue suit. She looked at Johnny one more time before rolling her eyes and leaving the room with Susan. Johnny watched the red head go and once she was out of the room, turned to Ben and Reed.

"Whose the chick?" He asked, his thumb pointing to where she left.

"Antonia Bradshaw, also known as Tony and Not-Your-Type." Ben informed the younger man.

"What makes you say that?"

"She actually has some brains and class."

 ** _so chapter 2 is now up :) yaay_**


	3. stormy skies

After changing out of her clothes and into the blue suit she had to wear, Tony and Susan who ad waited for her walked out of the room. Something moved out of the corner of Tony's eye and when she turned her head; she instantly rolled her eyes. Leaning against the wall outside the room was Johnny, trying to look natural but also very attractive at the same time. He looked up at the women and smiled, his eyes tailing over Tony's newly appeared curves from the suit.

"Johnny, what are you doing here?" Susan asked, looking at her younger brother. Johnny finally took his eyes off Tony to look at his sister.

"Victor came by and wanted to know where you were, he had to talk to you about something to do with the launch." Johnny explained.

"Oh. Alright," Susan looked at Tony and smiled, "I'll see you later then."

"Okay." Tony smiled back and watched Susan walk down the hall and out of site before feeling someone watching her. Johnny had started watching her again, seeming to try and figure her out, and Tony was starting to get a bit flustered with the way he was looking at her.

"We haven't been properly introduced, the name's Johnny Storm."

"Dr. Antonia Bradshaw."

Johnny smiled and started to walk the same speed as Tony who had made her way down the hall, "Antonia, wow that is beautiful. What is it, French?" This made Tony laugh and look at Johnny.

"Oh my god, that is so bad." She laughed. Johnny stopped walking at looked at the woman shocked.

"Bad?"

"' _Is it French?_ ' If you want to try and butter a girl up, know what comes out of your mouth."Tony explained. She started to walk away again, leaving Johnny stunned in the middle of the hall before she turned around, "And FYI, Antonia is Roman in origin but I get it from my father's Italian side."

After turning the corner, Tony had left Johnny feeling confused and irritated. _Usually that line works, I guess Big Ben was right, she is different than the other girls I go for._ Johnny looked down the hall to where Tony had left him and took in a deep breath before letting it out, _Just means I'm gonna have to try harder._

* * *

The shuttle launch was probably the most exhilarating and frightening moments of Tony's life, but it was worth it when the ship docked and the group of adults walked into the space station. Tony was trailing behind Johnny and Ben while holding her case filled with the samples for the experiment, trying to give Reed and Susan some space for whatever seemed to be going on with them. As they all walked out, Victor lead them into the station.

"E.T.A. till cosmic event, nine hours." He reminded the group. Johnny and Ben walked behind him, carrying cases for the astronaut suit Ben would be wearing later.

"If you're good, maybe next time Daddy'll let you drive." Johnny whispered to Ben, catching Tony's attention. She rolled her eyes and caught a glimpse of the Earth from their vantage point. The combination of the planet and of all the stars around it made Tony's heart speed up and made her smile brightly.

"You keep talkin', and there won't be a next time." Ben whispered back, getting his point across that he was very annoyed with the blonde man. The group continued until they were at the heart of the station, several corridors leading of to other parts of the structure.

"We can monitor the cloud's approach and observe the tests from here." Susan said as she came behind Tony, followed by Reed who was still looking around fascinated.

Ben unzipped his silvery one piece that was over the blue synthetic suit everyone was wearing. As he looked around, he asked, "Is it safe?"

"The shields on the station should protect us." Reed explained. That caught both Tony's and Ben's attention.

"Should?"

"What's the matter, Ben?" The three looked over to Victor who was walking towards them with his overconfidence radiating off him like heat. "Getting paranoid in your old age?"

"Let's start loading those samples. Tony, makes sure you have everything and the samples are all set. Get your suit ready, Ben." Reed said, trying to ignore Victor. Tony nodded and looked at Ben, waiting for him to stop staring down Victor so they could go. Just as he was turning around, Victor opened his mouth again.

"So I see you're still doing all the heavy lifting. Maybe you should have stayed in the lab; fieldwork never suited you."

Ben turned back around and walked towards Victor, "He does the talkin', I do the walkin'. Got it?"

"Then what does she do?" Tony's eyes met with Victor's when she was mentioned, kinda being surprised since he hadn't acknowledged her at all. "Plays with the pretty flowers?"

"These pretty flowers are about to make you more rich than Tony Stark. You really want to start something?"

Ben and Reed's eyes widened at Tony's rebuttal, they have never heard her talk back like that to anyone of authority or high standings in the 2 years they have all known each other. Ben let a smile slip onto his face and Reed stayed wide eyed. Victor tried not to act surprised by what she said, but it had hit a cord with him that someone other than Ben had stood up to him. Instead, he smirked and looked back at the astronaut, "You like walkin' Ben? So go and take a walk. Actually, if you'll all excuse me, I need to borrow Susan for a moment."

As silence swept over the room, Ben gave Tony a look before starting to head out to wear they needed to get ready; Tony following seconds later. She didn't even notice Johnny rushing to her side as the three of them all walked in the same direction. Reed had gone a different route to go and check on the storm that was approaching, leaving the girl alone with two astronauts.

"Has Victor always acted like a ... douche?" Tony asked, breaking the silence in the group. Ben laughed at her choice of name and Johnny looked at her funny.

"Douche? Victor's awesome."

Tony looked at Johnny like he had grown a third eye, "Did you not see that back there? ' _Playing with flowers._ ' I earned my masters in Botany thank you very much and it wasn't just so I could play with flowers." Tony said back, her voice raising. Ben looked at her and smiled, not liking that Victor was getting under her skin but liking that she wasn't such a pushover at Reed.

The group walked a little farther before getting to their destination and Ben going to put on his space suit. Tony had knelled down to check the storage container that the samples would be in when something moved out of the corner of her eye. Looking up, she saw Johnny kneeling besides her, watching her work on one of the capsules. He looked looked up from her hand to her bright green eyes which was watching him confused.

"What is it?" She asked, putting down the capsule into the storage container and sealing the top. Johnny sighed before started to talk.

"Look, I'm sorry for what I said. Back on Earth," Johnny said, a small smile coming onto his face when saying Earth like he was an alien or something. Tony caught this and a small smile crept on her face as well. "We're both here to do a job so let us do that and maybe when we get back we can... go out or something."

Tony's small smile fell and she stared at Johnny; he was acting uncharacteristically serious and so far in the past couple hours she has known him she can tell that was weird. The silence had become deafening to Johnny, every second that ticked by made him feel more of an idiot than their talk in the hall. Just as he was about to say something, Ben walked back into the room and was now dressed in his suit. "You kids ready?" He asked, totally unaware what had just happened in the room. Johnny and Tony looked at each other before Tony stood up and held her hand out to Johnny to help him stand. Johnny looked at it for a second before taking it and standing as well. Tony looked at Ben before smiling at him, "Yeah, let's make history boys."

Johnny smiled and walked over to Ben to get his suit up and running, "Aye aye Captain." He mock saluted at her as he went to the back of Ben's suit and made sure everything was set with his pack. There was a small silence as Johnny snapped the pack back into place and then walked up in front of Ben to set something else in the suit when something popped into his head, "Please tell me your guy's not trying to rekindle things with me sister again."

"Of course not. It's strictly business." Ben said back. Tony's eyebrows flew when she heard that. Its not like she didn't know there was something between the two scientists (she's not blind), but she didn't know they had something to 'rekindle' so to speak.

"Yes well, his eyes say differently, don't they?"

"Hey." Ben grabbed Johnny's arm as he turned away, "Two hearts got busted last time. Maybe she's not over it either."

"Wow Dr. Phil, that's deep. Let's think about that. You got Victor - more money than God, stud of the year - and you got Reed, world's dumbest smart guy, worth less than a postage stamp." Tony watched as Johnny grabbed Tony's storage container and gave it to Ben as the two walked into the chamber that would lead Ben out into space. As Johnny clipped on the strap connecting Ben to the case, something clicked with Tony as well. "That's a real toss up."

"Ben wait!"

Ben and Johnny looked as Tony ran quickly over to her other case and grabbed something before rushing over to the two and bending down next to the container of the samples. "What's up?"

"I forgot I needed to switch the Lilium with the Lobulari." Tony explained. She took out the canister with the ordinary garden lily with the one with the sweet alyssum plant she had meant to switch out earlier if Johnny hadn't distracted her.

"In English please?" Johnny asked as Tony stood back up, the right canister in her hands.

"Lobulari, also known as the Sweet Alyssum flower, needed to be one of the samples to go out there. Not the Lily."

"Oh, gotcha." Johnny pointed to her before ushering her out of the small alcove. He patted Ben on the arm before leaving as well, "Don't wander off now boy."

"Please be careful out there Ben." Tony said just as the doors were closing. He smiled at her and sent a small thumbs up, trying to reassure her.

" _Securing air lock chamber._ " an automated voice said, closing the doors completely and getting Ben ready to step out into space. Tony turned to Johnny and saw that he was sending thumbs up to Ben to which made the older man roll his eyes and turn to the outer door.

It was awkward as Tony and Johnny stood in the room by themselves, neither of them making a sound. A couple minutes went by and Tony had been staring down at the capsule in her hands with the white and red garden lily in it. She smiled ever so lightly and then looked up to see Johnny checking something on the ship probably regarding Ben.

"Maybe."

"What?" Johnny asked, turning around to face her. Tony sighed and looked Johnny in the eyes, hopefully not regretting what she was about to say.

"To the question you asked earlier, when we get back home, **maybe** we can go out...'or something.'" She explained. Johnny stared at the woman in front of him, and before he could even react, Reed ran into the room hurriedly, looking like something terrible has happened.

"Ben! You need to get inside now!" Reed yelled, rushing over to Johnny.

"What's going on?" He asked.

" _I ain't done arrangin' Tony's flowers yet, egghead._ " Ben's voice said over the headsets everyone was wearing.

"Dr. Richards, what's wrong?" Tony asked, starting to get panicked at the state of her boss.

"Ben, turn around."

It was then when Tony looked beyond Ben and saw what Tony would know as the cosmic storm that should be here in seven hours was now at their doorstep. The bright red and yellow of the storm looked like a red mist filled with electricity and sent Tony's heart to a complete stop.

" _Guys, I'm not gonna make it_." Ben said, turning back in the other direction.

"Then you gotta jump!" Johnny yelled. He could feel the fear settling in as the storm grew closer by the second. "It's the only way!"

Tony watched as Ben left her samples behind and jumped into empty space trying to reach the air lock chamber. The grip Tony had on the lily canister tightened as nerves started to settle in and make them shake.

"Come on Ben! You got this!" Johnny yelled.

"Come on Ben. Come on." Tony mumbled under her breath, the astronaut floating closer and closer to the station. As Ben was almost there, Reed quickly turned to Johnny before facing Ben's way again.

"Okay, Johnny. Get ready to close the portal."

Just as Ben was reaching the station, a wave of the storm encased him and pushed him into the glass hard. Reed stared with his mouth open as Ben's body fell to the ground, and then everything changed.

The storm encased the station; wave after wave after wave hitting members of the team there. When the waves hit Tony, the canister she had been holding shattered and the shards launched themselves into her stomach. The flower, the garden lily, also slammed into her torso and Tony's hand trying to touch her wounded stomach but made contact with the flower. Pain flared all over her skin and the waves of radiation continued their onslaught on the station. Once it stopped, she dropped to the ground with the last sound she heard before passing out was the warning alarm ringing through the halls of the space station.

 ** _whoa, so that happened._**

 ** _I thought that since I hadn't posted in so long I would give you guys a super long chapter :) hope you all like it_**


	4. something strange in this DNAge

It was tough for Johnny to wake up from the storm and to find Reed and Sue pulling Ben into the station, still unconscious. He blinked before looking over to his left and seeing something that made his face loose all color. Tony, who looked to still be unconscious as well, also had shattered glass all around her. The part of her suit covering her stomach was splotched with blood as some of the glass pieces had lodged into her. Once getting over the initial shock, Johnny scrambled to her side and looked over her wounded body.

"Oh god, Reed!" Johnny yelled even though Reed hadn't been 5 feet from him. Reed turned and his eyes widened at the state of his assistant.

"Tony! Johnny what happened?"

"It must have been from the storm."

Sue came over as well, looking over all the glass around the younger girl. "Where did all the glass come from?"

"She-She was holding one of the extra sample canisters when the storm hit. It must have broke or something." Johnny explained. Reed ran out of the room leaving the Storm siblings with the knocked out teammates. Johnny watched Tony as her breathing came a bit more labored than before, her eyes scrunching up and sweat starting to form on her forehead. A couple seconds later and Reed came back carrying a first aid case and opening it up.

"We need to remove the glass." Reed said, looking through the case.

"But we don't know how deep they're in there. She could end up bleeding out before we get her back to Earth." Sue explained. Reed looked at Tony and saw how her breathing was more labored as well, knowing that she was starting to feel the pain. After making the decision, Reed turned to Johnny.

"Johnny, go find Victor. Tell him we need to get back now for Ben and Tony."

"Got it."

Johnny got up and bolted from the room, going to find the billionaire. Sue and Reed were left with Tony who was starting to wake up. Her eyes blinking open, but only to close in pain that radiated from her stomach. She let out a moan and tried to touch her stomach that felt like it was on fire, but Reed stopped her. "Tony, stop. Don't touch your stomach."

"What happened?" She asked, opening her eyes again and looking around. Then they widened and she tried to stand up. "Ben. Where's Ben?!"

"Tony, you have to stay still."

"Where's Ben, Reed?"

"He's unconscious, but okay. You need to stay lying down." Reed gently pushed her down back to the floor before going through the first aid kit again. "Sue, help Tony take off the top part of her suits. I need to get to the glass and wrap her up good so she doesn't loose too much blood."

"Alright." Sue said, too panicked to fight with him like usual. The blonde threw the lily that was still lying on her chest away and unzipped the two jumpsuits; pulling them down to her waist as Reed took out the larger pieces that weren't that deep. After pushing the suits to her hips, Reed took a gauze and whipped down her stomach to get rid of some of the blood that had started pooling there.

"Tony, I'm not going to lie to you. This is gonna hurt a lot." Reed told her as he got ready to start getting the deeper pieces out of her stomach. Tony looked at him and nodded, clenching her jaw in preparation. Just as Reed was about to start, Johnny ran back into the room. He looked out of breath but a small smile was on his face.

"Victor's okay. He said he's calling down right now to tell ground control that there was a problem and that we would be heading back as soon as possible."

"Good job Johnny." Sue said with a smile before loosing it and looking back down to Tony. Johnny's eyes followed her and was surprised to see the now topless Tony in the room, but then his eyes caught her bloody stomach. His stomach lurched at the sight. "Johnny, I'm gonna need you to hold Tony down. This is gonna put her in a lot of pain and we can't have her moving around." He nodded and slowly got to Tony's side again. Said woman looked up at him and was about to say something when she felt Reed start. The scream that came out of her was loud and echoed all the way through the station for Victor to hear.

"Oh god!" She yelled,trying to sit up but Johnny held her arms in place. There was a clink of the piece of glass falling onto the floor before Reed went in again. Tony started to scream again, the pain the worse she has ever felt. Before she knew it, her vision got blurry and she passed out again.

* * *

Thankfully, Reed was able to pull out a majority of the glass. The rest was too deep for him to get without cutting into her so Reed wrapped Tony up with gauze and got her ready to go into the shuttle. When getting up, Sue started to feeling dizzy again, something not feeling right and she too passed out. That left Johnny, Reed and Victor taking care of Sue, Ben and Tony. The shuttle got back safely and Victor got everyone to his medical facility in the mountains. Tony was immediately rushed into surgery as everyone else was locked down into quarantine until the medical professionals knew exactly what the storm had done to them.

Sue and Ben were put into rooms as they were still unconscious. Victor, however, apparently didn't need to be quarantined and wasn't at the facility like everyone else. He however, sent over dozens and dozens of bouquets to Susan's room. He even sent Tony something after he heard she made it out of surgery okay. But what he sent her got under Reed's skin. While Sue got all types of flowers, even ones that she was allergic to; Tony, the botanist, got a cactus.

That's right, a small cactus was placed on her bedside table by one of the nurses after she had come out of surgery. Reed and Johnny both switched when visiting everyone, and Johnny had gone to see Ben when the man woke up.

Ben's eyes opened up and started to blink which caught Johnny's attention, getting him to stand up, "Wake up. Ben! Hey, rise and shine, big boy. How you feeling?"

"Where am I?" Ben asked, looking a Johnny but also noticing that they weren't on the station anymore.

"Back on Earth. We're in quarantine; Victor's medical facility."

"Reed? Sue? Is everyone alright? Tony?"

Johnny looked at Ben and sighed, "Reed and Sue are fine. Tony had to go into surgery though. You two were the only ones...injured."

"What's wrong with Tony?...What's wrong with me?" Ben asked.

"Tony's fine now, don't worry. But,... I swear to you, Ben, they've done everything humanly possible for you. The best plastic surgeons in the world are here, Ben. You had the best." Johnny explained. For a second, Ben forgot about Tony and reached for the mirror near him.

"Give me that mirror." He said, as Johnny grabbed it before him and faced it away from him.

"I don't know if that's a good idea. They said the shock alone-"

"I said give me that goddamn mirror!"

Ben took the mirror from the hot head and faced it away from him, the nerves settling in as he moved the mirror to his face. The heart monitor still attached to Ben was starting to go faster and his heart raced with anticipation, but not excited anticipation. When he finally got a good look at himself, he saw that there was nothing wrong with him, no matter how much he tried to find something wrong. Johnny had made it to the door by this point, smirking at a job well done.

"Unfortunately, the doctors just couldn't do anything to fix your face."He said, laughing and running out of the room just in time to miss the mirror that Ben had threw at him.

Johnny ran down the hall right into Reed who was coming down the opposite way, "Hey. Nice do. Likin' the grandpa look." He said. Reed looked confused, not knowing what he was talking about, but Johnny just kept walking until he reached the room he was going into next.

Opening the door, Johnny walked in to see Tony was still unconscious in bed, her dark red hair sprayed over the pillow. The room had a large window where the sunlight was coming through the barren tree branches outside and making an odd shadow pattern over her face. Johnny looked over to Tony's bedside table and saw the cactus Victor had sent over, a small amount of irritation coming over him. He sat in the seat near her bed and watched as she slept off the amnesia from the surgery and looked the most peaceful he had seen her since they met. Watching her started to make him feel like a creep so he looked around the room again until his eyes landed on the TV set hanging from the wall.

Johnny grabbed the remote off of the bedside table and quickly turned it on to see the news and Victor being yelled at by reporters. " _You've been charged with moving science a little too fast."_

 _"By whom? My competitors? Danger is always a part of this-"_ Before he could finish, Johnny changed the channel, not in the mood for Victor. He looked over to Tony still fast asleep and sent a goofy smile her way.

"What do you want to watch? I bet you're a big _Friends_ fan or something."

"She is." Johnny looked over to the door and saw Reed peaking through, back from visiting Sue. He smiled and walked over to Tony's bed, picking up the clipboard at the end to check her stats. "She really likes Chandler and that other guy who flirts with everyone."

"Joey?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, him." Reed looked over the charts an didn't see anything wrong before putting it back and walking over to Tony's other side. "She'll be fine, Johnny."

"How did you-"

"You seem to have gotten a bit attached to Tony since the launch. I don't blame you, she's really cool." Reed looked up and smiled at Johnny's slightly blushing face and then walked out of the room, going to go change into normal clothes. Johnny waited for Reed to leave before looking at Tony's face and then back at the TV. He changed it quickly to a rerun of _Friends_ he had saw earlier on his TV, then put the remote back on her table and stood up.

He looked one last time at the woman before leaving the room feeling flustered and not in the good way. He left before he could see Tony move her head towards the cactus in her sleep, and seeing the barren plant sporadically sprout pink flowers out of no where.

 ** _yaay! two chapters in two days :)) how are you liking things so far? sorry Tony wasn't in this one very much, but we needed to see some flustered and worried Johnny in here :)_**


	5. through the arm vine

It wasn't until a couple of hours later when Tony's hand gripped Ben's when he had come to visit her. Her small pale hand tightened for a few seconds signaling Ben that she was finally waking up. He got up from his chair and leaned over Tony just in time to see her eyes open before shutting from the light coming into the room. A dull pain radiated from her stomach to cause some discomfort but nothing like what she felt before she passed out. "Why's it so damn bright in here?"

Ben chuckled and squeezed her hand, "How ya doing kid?" He asked.

"Alright. How are you?" Tony asked.

"I'll be okay." Tony smiled and was about to say something when she caught movement near Ben's head. Looking over, she saw that her TV was on and was playing an episode of _FRIENDS_.

"Did you turn that on?"

"No, it was on when I came in. Why?"

Tony tilted her head at the TV as she watched Chandler and Ross fight about Chandler telling people that Ross had died on his alumni page. "It's just weird that the TV is playing my favorite show. It must have been Reed."

"I guess." Ben shrugged. He looked to the TV before looking back at Tony and kissing her forehead. "Why don't you rest up, you did go through surgery."

"I think I'm gonna take a shower actually. I feel all gross." Tony explained.

"You need any help?"

"No." Tony slowly sat up and spun so her feet dangled over the side of her bed. "I think I got it."

"Alright." Ben walked over and gave her shoulder a small squeeze before moving to the door, "I'm heading down to eat with Sue and Reed."

"Have fun." Tony said with a small wave and with that Ben was gone. Tony gently rubbed her stomach and could feel the layer of bandages under her shirt. Before she moved to the bathroom, Tony moved her eyes around the room and spotted the potted cactus on her bedside table. The pink flowers spouting from it made her scrunch up her eyebrows in confusion. "This Cactaceae Rebutia doesn't even look close to maturing. Why does it have flowers?"

Looking more closely, Tony could not find a plausible response as to why this cactus was growing flowers. But the more she sat and observed the plant the more her head hurt, so she put the pot down and slowly made her way to the bathroom. As she started the shower, Tony looked up and caught her reflection in the mirror making her cringe. Her red hair had gotten tangled and looked all out of place, while her face housed oily skin and dark bags under her eyes. Tony quickly looked away and started to get dressed, making sure to not hurt herself. She got down to the bandages and slowly started to unravel them while avoiding to look at them. She wasn't ready to see the stitches she most likely had.

Tony climbed into the shower, the warm water made her skin comfortable and her stiff muscles relax. As she washed her hair and then her body, making sure to be careful to avoid her stomach, a tingling sensation came over her body. It was like she felt something weaving and moving through her blood vessels. Tony just passed that to the drugs she thought were pumped through her after surgery and finished her shower. She shut off the water and was about to climb out when she looked down and caught something on her ankle. Looking closer, she recognized it as a vine slithering up her leg like it had a mind of its own.

A scream came from Tony and she hurried out of the shower, moving quickly to cover herself and to try and get the vine off of her leg. Once she touched it with her hand, the vine moved off her leg and onto her arm where it wrapped itself on her forearm like a brace. Tony tried prying it off but the vine fastened itself onto her skin.

"What the hell is this?" She asked herself, slowly moving her finger to poke the vine. when she got close enough, it seemed to flinch like a child getting scolded and tighten its grip on her arm. Before she even had time to think, Tony heard her room door open with a loud slam of the door hitting the wall.

"Tony!" Reed's voice seemed strained and frantic as it yelled her name. Tony moved towards the bathroom door and opened it to see Reed looking around the room frantic.

"Reed? What's wrong?" Tony's voice made Reed swivel around and as he noticed that she was in nothing but a towel, his face turned red. He turned around to face the other way when he went to speak.

"Get dressed."

"Why, what's wrong?"

"I'll explain on the way, you need to get dressed now."

Tony just nodded and went back into the bathroom, rewrapped herself in new bandages and got back in the clothes she woke up in, which were a pair of black sweatpants and a loose gray t-shirt. She reappeared only to have Reed usher out of the room and into the hallway where Sue and Johnny waited. The first thing that Tony noticed was the fact that Johnny had nothing on except for a pink winter coat wrapped around his waist to cover himself up.

"Well hello to you too." Tony said, smirking at Johnny's nakedness. "Have trouble getting dressed by yourself?"

"No, but I wouldn't complain if you needed help getting undressed." Johnny smirked back. That made Tony blush, but she still rolled her eyes and started walking when Reed and Sue made there way down the hall quickly.

"So, anyone want to explain what's going on?" Tony asked.

"The cloud fundamentally altered our DNA." Sue said, not looking at Tony as she responded.

"Let's not jump to conclusions, we need a massive amount of evidence before making that leap." Reed said, looking at Susan.

"What do you mean?"

A snap caught Tony's attention and she looked over to Johnny to see the tips of his fingers on fire like they were a lighter.

Tony could feel the vine on her arm tighten at the sight of the flame and she moved a step away from Johnny, who was too distracted with the fire to notice. Reed turned when he didn't hear Tony or Johnny following him and Sue and stared at Johnny's fingertips. Sue also stopped and turned to stare, the flame eventually going out when Johnny snapped his fingers again.

"Now picture that, but **everywhere**." Johnny said, motioning to his body. Tony's eyes widened as Johnny continued to snap his fingers to turning the flame on and off over and over again.

"The cloud has fundamentally altered our DNA." Reed mumbled, still in shock. Johnny let out a loud laugh as the four continued down the hall.

"Cool! And guys, I think I was flying."

"Flying?" Tony asked. Johnny nodded his head eagerly before catching something on Tony's arm.

"Hey, what's on your arm?" He asked. That caused them to stop again and Reed and Sue to turn to Tony and look at her arm. The vine had grown more and has now wrapped around most of her arm.

"I have no idea. I went to take a shower when I woke up and when I was done, it was around my ankle."

"Around your ankle?" Sue asked, to which Tony nodded.

"Yeah, I tried getting it off but it moved and got itself on my arm and wont come off."

"Amazing, it moved like a living creature?" Reed asked, bending down to look at her arm.

"Technically it is a living creature, but yeah. And just now when Johnny lite up his fingers, it tightened itself, like it was scared." Tony explained.

"Scared of me?"

"Scared of the flames I think." Johnny stared at Tony and looked between her arm and her face, confusion stamped on his expression. Reed suddenly straightened up and looked at Sue.

"We need to find Ben."

 ** _hey hey hey, long time no post :) hope you guys like it, i'm starting to develop johnny and tony's relationship!_**


	6. repairing bridges

"I said cut it out Johnny."

The group of four had just made it to Ben's room, Johnny snapping his fingers to make the small flame appear and disappear the whole walk there. Let's just say that Sue and Tony have had enough.

"I'm still getting the hang of it." He said, continuing his snapping.

"Then practice on your own time." Tony said, bypassing Johnny and moving to Ben's door with Reed.

Reed started to bang on the door, the loud pounding echoing through the halls. "Hey Ben. It's Reed."

"And Tony!"

"Johnny stop."

Sue turned to Johnny, aggravation written all over her face. Her brother snapped his fingers again to make the flame go away and looked at her. "Alright."

"Alright?"

"Yes."

"God."

"God."

"What is wrong with you?"

"A lot." Tony mumbled before Reed turned to Sue and asked if she knew the code to Ben's room. She moved to the keypad as groans and moans of pain started filtering into the hall for them all to hear. "Reed, something is definitely wrong."

A loud bang, like something heavy falling to the floor came from Ben's room. Tony, Reed and Johnny started to bang on the door calling for Ben as Sue tried to get the code right to open the door.

"You alright Ben?" Reed called, trying to get an answer. Johnny moved away from the door and further into the hall.

"Hey! Does somebody have keys to this door?" He called out. "Anybody? You know what just break the glass, it can't be that thick."

Tony went to tell him to grab something heavy when she caught Reed staring down at his hand like it was the answer to the hardest scientific problem he had come across.

"Reed?" Tony asked. But he didn't turn to her, he just kept staring at his hand as he bent down to the floor. Reed moved his hand just to the edge of the door and slowly started to push his fingers into the crack between the door and the floor. Tony's eyes widened as his fingers and the rest of his hand slide through and was able to get to the other side of the door. Tony looked up from Reed as she watched through the door window his hand _stretch_ and eventually unlock the door. There was nothing but silence as all three onlookers watched Reed and his elastic like hand. He pulled his hand out from under the door and stood up to be met with the wide eyes of Tony, Sue and Johnny. There was a moment of silence before Johnny decided to speak up.

"That's gross."

The crumbling of rock broke the tension in the hall as the four rushed into Ben's room. Inside was much like the other rooms except for the bed that looked like it was crushed by a giant's foot. "Ben?" Reed called out. Tony looked to the large hole in the wall as the wires sparked and sizzled from being torn apart.

"Look, look, look, look." Johnny rushed over to the whole. With everyone following, they say the younger Storm point to some large moving figure in the distance. "What is that thing?" He asked.

"What's going on? What happened here?"

Tony turned from the hole to see Victor looking around the room. He had somewhat dark circles under his eyes and his skin looked paler than the last time she saw him on the station. _I wonder if he got affected by the storm too..._

"Victor, are you feeling alright?" Susan asked, moving towards Victor with a worried look on her face.

"I'm fine. Just a few scrapes, that's all."

"Ben did this." It was Reed's turn to speak up, looking directly at Victor with such a serious look, "He had some kind of reaction to exposure from the cloud."

Susan tried to further elaborate, "We all have, um, different symptoms."

"Symptoms?" Victor asked.

"Are you sure you're okay? You look really pale." Tony said, walking closer to Susan and Victor. Victor, rather than answering her directly with words, nodded curtly and avoided looking at her at all.

"Victor, um, I should have-"

"Just find him."

And then he left, leaving the room quiet once again. Tony looked at Susan's solemn face before turning back to the large hole in the wall and looking into the forest ahead where the large being had disappeared into.

"Anybody got any ideas where the big guy's going?" Johnny asked, standing next to Tony looking out the hole as well. She turned to him to see Johnny looking at her before turning his attention to Reed who was looking at something on the floor. Tony turned as well and sighed when she realized what Reed was looking at.

It was a picture of Ben and his fiancé Debbie.

"He's going home."

* * *

The group decided to stay the night and get some sleep before heading out early to catch up with Ben in New York. The next morning they headed out to the city. Tony sat in between Reed and Johnny as Sue got in the front with the driver of the taxi they were taking. Tony watched the forest and mountains fade into concrete and buildings the closer they got to New York. She could feel the vine loosen and tighten with every move her body made, and at any point she got jostled closer to Johnny, the plant would squeeze so hard Tony had no choice but to pretend she needed more sleep and lean on Reed for the rest of the ride.

Once they hit the city limits, the traffic started piling up on the Brooklyn Bridge. The taxi slowly came to a stop, and the commotion coming from farther down on the bridge got everyone out of the cab. They seemed to all have the same train of thought as they made their way on foot to the growing crowd and police on the bridge. From what Tony could gather from the yelling police officers, there were not letting anyone by or through until whatever happened could be resolved. "What do we do now?" Susan asked, turning to Johnny who was trying to look over the crowd and see what was going on.

"We are not getting passed these guys." Reed stated. But quickly looked at Susan and a thought appeared in his head, "But you could."

Sue didn't look too sure, but closed her eyes and after a few seconds, her body started to disappear. But her clothes still made her stand out.

"Sue, your clothes. Loose them."

"Oh. Right." Susan started to take off the clothes so she could be fully invisible. Tony watched, still in shock of Susan's new abilities. Johnny though was not the happiest camper. He turned away from his older sister taking her clothes off.

"This is so wrong." He sang, looking over his shoulder at something else. Sadly when Susan got down to her underwear, her body started to appear again. Johnny looked over just for a second before grunting with the image he just saw.

"What?"

"Susan." Tony whispered pointing to the woman's body. Susan gasped and tried to cover herself with her hands but it clearly wasn't working. She grabbed her jacket from the ground and wrapped it around herself. Reed was staring wide eyed as this was all going down.

"Wow, you've been working out." he said.

Susan was quick to comment on that. "Shut up. Anymore great ideas? Why don't you strip down and have a hundred people stare at you?"

The angrier Susan got at Reed, the more Tony could see though her until her body had disappeared again. Reed got her attention again and she started to strip all the way down until the group and the people around watching didn't know where she was.

"I'm gonna need therapy." Johnny mumbled as Susan removed the last of her clothes. Her voice was the only way Reed, Tony and Johnny could tell where she was going. So the followed that, Johnny and Tony picking up Susan's clothes before leaving a batch of confused pedestrians in their wake. Once they reached passed the police barricade and found a place where Susan could change back into her clothes, panic had started up again.

"I still can't believe you made me do that." Susan said pulling on her brown blazer.

"We got through didn't we? Just find Ben."

Reed rushed before everyone else and went looking for his best friend. Tony was lagging behind him, looking at all the chaos that had happened on the bridge. The warmth of flames from the vehicles in the crash made her vine constrict and slither around under her sleeve, much like any time she got too close to Johnny. Behind her, Susan had climbed on top of a cab and started to yell out Ben's name. It was then when something large came into view.

It was like the being was made from orange boulders and they had fused together into the form of a man. It was barefoot and was wearing a pair of pants, his face sculptured into the one of Ben Grimm. He caught eyes with Susan, then Reed and Tony. There was stunned silence between the group before a small cry of a little girl came through. She was trapped between a few cars, looking around for her mother. Before anyone could think, Tony rushed to the girl and jumped over the turned over cars to get to her. Tony grabbed her and helped her out of the way for her to get to the crowd and find her mother, and as the girl was a few feet away, there was a switch in the air and all of the sudden something happened.

Tony was walking over to get over the car again when she felt arms on her waist and another body wrap its way around her. An explosion broke out and an overwhelming wave of heat radiated around Tony. Her eyes were clenched shut as the person holding her, protecting her, squeezed her closer to their chest and away from the flames. It wasn't until a few seconds later when Tony decided to open her eyes and turned around to see Johnny. He looked okay even though he had his back facing a fiery explosion. Johnny looked down to her and started to scan her face and body for any damage.

"Are you alright?" He asked, his hands now on her shoulders and looking into her eyes. Tony stared at him as he waited for her to answer, but as she opened her mouth, another person's scream came out. Both adults looked over to the firetruck hanging halfway off the bridge. Firemen tried to save one of their own who was hanging on from the end, but the more they moved the more the truck tipped towards the water. Tony looked over to Johnny before giving his arm a squeeze and running off to the truck. When she got there, Ben had already gotten his hands on the truck and was trying to bring it back down and away from the edge. Tony looked around for something she could do, and before she could even know what was happening, the vine on her arm started to move. It lifted her arm by itself and shot more vines towards the truck.

"That's new." Tony said as she watched the vines wrapped themselves around the vehicle. She started to use the vines as a rope and pulled along with Ben. But the truck had other plans as it moved closer to falling into the water below. Ben was letting out large grunts as the truck kept moving, Tony pulling as hard as she could. Her muscles tightened and rippled under her skin, a loud frustrated groan mixing with her friend's.

As the truck finally started to move in the right direction, away from the water, Tony felt something wet under her nose and drip down to her lips. Another pull and tug and Ben and Tony had gotten the firetruck back on the bridge. Tony's arms relaxed and that seemed to send a signal to the vines to let go of the truck and travel back into her sleeve. Tony looked around and all of the sudden, her and Ben were surrounded by police, all aiming their guns at Ben.

"Get down on the ground."

"Ma'am, get out of the way." One said to her, aiming his gun now on her but moving it to signal her moving out of the way. But all she could do was stare around. Her legs started to wobble and her head was spinning, Tony's body was starting to fail her. Just as a shooting pain went through her stomach, her legs gave out.

"Ben!"

"Tony!"

Arms wrapped around her again before she could hit the ground. The heaviness in her brain made her ears seemed clogged as she looked over to Johnny's face. His mouth was moving, but nothing registered to Tony. When Johnny's hands passed over her stomach, Tony winced. Johnny's eyes moved down to her stomach and gently lifted her black sweater to reveal her bloody bandages. Johnny's hands skimmed over the wound and Tony flinched back, the smallest touch bringing her shocks of pain. The pain seemed to be working its way through her body as her ears cleared up and the sounds of clapping and cheering made Tony turn to the people on the bridge. The were looking at their little group and smiling widely as their hands clapped wildly.

"Shit, you must have tore your stitches." Johnny mumbled. Tony turned her head to him and then down to her stomach.

"It hurts."

Johnny looked up and met eyes with her, "Can you hear me?"

"Yeah." She said, trying to move from his arms but her legs giving out.

"We have to get you to one of the ambulances. Something's wrong." Johnny said. Tony nodded and with Johnny's help, the two walked away from the crowd and to a medical specialist on sight.


	7. my friend rock-s

"Okay miss, it looks like you'll be just fine now." The paramedic said, putting on a new bandage over Tony's newly placed stitches. Tony sat in the back of an ambulance that had come when the accident occurred on the bridge. She pulled down her sweatshirt to hide her wound, before smiling at the paramedic.

"Thank you." Tony said, getting up on her feet. She looked over to Johnny who was leaning against the door of the ambulance, not once taking his eyes off her the whole time they were together. He moved just as Tony started to walk towards him, sending her a small smile before leading her to the white tent where their friends were stationed.

"Everything okay now?" Johnny asked, looking over her just to make sure. Tony nodded and moved her arm to grip her side where her stitches were.

"Yeah, they gave me some medicine for the pain and new stitches. I'm starting to feel like a raggedy ol' doll that keeps needing patch work." Tony joked. Johnny smirked as the two reached the tent. Sue was also being looked over by a medical professional, while Ben sat looking at the ring Debbie had left and Reed was watching everyone like the calculated scientist he was.

Johnny and Tony walked into the tent and Tony sat down on one of the exam beds, making sure to be aware of her stitches. Johnny sat next to her, looking around before his eyes landed on Ben. It was quite between the group for a few seconds, the noise from outside not seeming to catch their attention anymore. But like Johnny always does, he has to start something.

"Where are your ears?" He asked Ben, who looked up at Johnny and just simply glared. Tony slapped Johnny on the arm when she heard him, getting the young man to look over and whisper, "Ow, what did I say?"

"There are some folks outside that want to talk to you." Tony looked over and say who she assumed was the police chief talking to Reed.

"We're not going public with this." Reed said quickly. "We're scientists, not celebrities."

"It's too late son. Look," The man walked over to the small TV in the tent, and clicked it on. On the screen appeared, the news was blasting about what had happened on the bridge. Clips of Reed and Ben standing together appeared along with a small one of Tony being held in Johnny's arms when she almost blacked out. Seeing how close they were as she walked closer to the TV set made her face heat up and probably very red. "See that? That's what their calling you, the Fantastic Five." He pointed out as a clip of the five of them came up with a little footer at the bottom of the screen, indeed saying **_THE FANTASTIC FIVE_**.

"But we're nothing, we're not heroes or anything." Tony said, her eyes not coming off the screen.

"Ma'am, if you don't think what you all did out there doesn't make you heroes, maybe you're not that smart of a scientist." The police chief said, clicking off the TV and getting her to meet his eye.

Johnny let out a small laugh and shouted, "Cool." before heading in the direction out of the tent and to the public.

"No, wait! Where are you going?" Sue asked her brother.

"I'm gonna go talk to them."

"No. We should think this through."

"That's great, brainstorm." Johnny said before rushing out of the tent before anyone else could stop him.

"How is he an adult?" Tony asked, watched Reed and Sue rush after Johnny.

"You got me, kid." Ben said. Tony moved to sit next to the man who still held onto the ring in his large orange hand. "I saw you go down after we pulled the firetruck back up, you alright?"

"Yeah. I just pulled a few stitches in my side, nothing to be too worried about."

"So that vine thing is what you got out of the cloud? Flower power?"

Tony chuckled and shook her head, looking down at her hands. On her right, you could see bits of the vine peak through her sleeve. Tony pulled up her sleeve and showed her arm to Ben, now that it was fully covered with the vine, only small bits of her skin showing through.

"This thing appeared on my body when I was taking my shower earlier, and the weirdest thing is, I think it can feel things."

"What do you mean?" Ben asked, eyeing her arm with wide eyes.

"It flinches every time I'm close to a flame or Johnny, like it's scared or something."

"Maybe it just has good instincts." Ben said, chuckling. Tony shook her head, then looked at Ben very seriously.

"I'm sorry, Ben. You were out there putting my flowers into place and-"

"Nothing for nothing kid, but you need to shut up. This isn't your fault so don't go blaming yourself." Ben said. He handed the small ring over to Tony who looked shocked at this. "I need you to look after that for me until I get my body back. With these big boulders for hands I don't want to end up crushing it before I can give it back to Debs."

"It's safe with me. Now why don't you help me up because I'm pretty sure Johnny is making an ass out of himself right now in front of reporters and TV crews." Tony asked. Ben got up and very carefully pulled Tony up as well, both heading out of the tent. Tony kept a hold on the engagement ring as she held onto her side where her stiches were, trying not to flinch at their pull on her skin. The two friends walked out of the tent and spotted Reed, Sue and Johnny in front of a group of paparazzi, their attention quickly focusing on Ben when they got into sight.

"We will be going directly to our lab to diagnose our symptoms." Tony heard Sue say as her and Ben got closer to their friends, her voice calm like she had done this a million times.

"Symptoms? Is this some kind of disease?"

"No! No, no no. It's not a disease." Johnny said, stepping up. Everyone in the group looked at him wide eyed, trying to telepathically tell him to shut up.

But he didn't get the message.

"If having special powers is a disease, then yeah, we got it bad." Johnny said. No one seemed to laugh though and continued to question the group.

"Excuse me, that thing doesn't look so fantastic." One reporter called out, pointing directly at Ben.

"What is wrong with her arm?" Another called out, motioning with her microphone to Tony. Tony looked down and saw that she had forgotten to pull down her sleeve and quickly covered her vine arm, her face getting flushed.

"Ben Grimm is a genuine American hero." Reed said, quickly putting a stomp on the man calling Ben a thing and ignoring the question about Tony's arm.

"What he means is every team needs a mascot."

"Johnny!" Tony said, yanking Johnny away from where he had wrapped an arm around Ben. The crowd seemed to eat it up as they laughed, which just made Johnny all the more confident. He rewrapped his arm around Ben and his other arm around Tony's waist, pulling her to his side.

"A new day is dawning. The day of the Fantastic Five." After that, dozens of the reporters started yelling questions at the group, and everyone besides Johnny looked uncomfortable. Tony pulled away from Johnny as Reed walked forward, serious as he started to address the crowd.

"Look-Look, we went up to space to find a way to understand D.N.A., cure disease, save lives. Well, now its our D.N.A., our _disease_ , our lives on the line. Thank you no more questions."

* * *

The NYPD were nice enough to give the group a ride home; home being the **BAXTER BUILDING**. Once they started down the street to the building, Tony could make out herds of people outside her home, some even holding signs like "NY 3 U" and "OUR HEROS". The police car with Tony in the front with the officer and Johnny, Reed and Sue squished in the back pulled to the curb. Tony got out as carefully as possible as watched in awe at the "fans" in front of the building.

Looking over, Tony could see Ben getting out of the armored car that had to carry him, now dressed in a trench coat and hat that fit him. She then looked at Johnny, who looked way too happy considering their predicament. Tony eventually made it inside with Reed and Sue, the crowd's cheers dying down a little inside the lobby.

"Is all that for you, Dr. Richards?" The doorman asked.

"I'm afraid so."

After smiling to the doorman, Tony made it to the elevator. There is where a familiar face appeared. "Welcome back to the Baxter, Dr. Richards. You too, Dr. Bradshaw. I got the usual for you." Willy the mail man said with a smile, digging into his bag and pulling out a large stack of envelopes. Tony didn't even have to look at them to know that they were bills. "Good to have you two back."

"Thanks Willy." Reed and Tony said, smiling at the friendly old man as he walked off. Reed started to look through them quickly, but when he caught Sue watching him, he stopped.

"We had a tough year."

"Yeah like nine straight." Ben chimed in, heading into the elevator after Reed. Soon all five of them were in the elevator, waiting to get to the lab and have this day be over with. But as the doors shut and the elevator tried to move, a groaning metallic sound came from around them.

"Either we're moving really fast or not at all." Johnny said.

An alarm started to go off, which brought everyone to look up at the wall where a small light popped on.

 **EXCEEDING MAXIMUM WEIGHT**

Everyone tried to avoid eye contact with Ben, but the tense atmosphere was enough to make him feel even worse about his being.

"I'll take the stairs." Ben said as he walked out of the elevator back into the lobby. He turned back when he heard his name being called.

"Ben, wait. I'll walk with you." Tony said, about to head out of the elevator as well. But when Ben lifted his hand, she stopped.

"With your stitches? No can do, kid. I got this."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I'll see you up there." And with a small fake smile, the elevator doors closed and the four were moving up to the Lab.

"How come Ben can't turn it on and off like we can?" Johnny asked.

"That's what we're here to find out." Reed said, nodding to Johnny.

Sue looked to Reed and seemed to grow nervous with her next words, "I mean, if it happened to him-"

"What? You mean like, we won't be able to turn it off either?" Johnny looked to Reed, who nodded in response, "That would save time, ha!"

"You don't really wanna walk around on fire the rest of your life, do you?" Sue asked her brother.

"Is that a trick question?"

"Grow up."

"Come on. Am I the only guy who thinks this is cool?"

Tony looked over to Johnny who had locked eyes with her. "I just want Ben to be happy." She replied, breaking eye contact with Johnny to look down at her shoes. Reed sighed and put a hand on his assistant's shoulder.

"We all want that. And I'm going to do anything in my power to make it happen." Tony looked up and smiled, just as the elevator dinged as it got to the top floor where the Lab was. Reed squeezed Tony's arm quickly before exiting the elevator. "We should stay here until we can define the extent of our changes. And figure out how to reverse them." Reed explained as he tossed the bills onto a side table as he passed it. Sue followed Reed as he rushed into the Lab area, Johnny and Tony moving more slowly. Tony because of the pure exhaustion that had started to pile onto her shoulders the longer she was awake and Johnny because he was looking at everything that surrounded him.

The Lab was a giant open space that resembled something like a mad scientist's laboratory and something from the future. Metal was everywhere and high-tech screens showed formulas and blueprints of passed works by Dr. Reed Richards.

"Whoa." Johnny exclaimed, trying to take it all in. Tony was watching him with a small smile before looking around herself. Her work station was in a different part of the floor, almost like a greenhouse that Reed had constructed for her a while ago. She couldn't wait until she was surrounded by her flowers.

"But I have to warn you, it's gonna be a little crowded in some areas." Reed said, moving through his Lab with ease. "So, what do you think?"

"I don't know Reed. I think you might be bringing your work home with you."

Reed laughed, rolled up his sleeves and patted Johnny on the back, "Come on. Let me show you guys where you'll be staying." Reed started to move back into the apartment area, Johnny following slowly before he stopped at his sister.

"Busy guy." He whispered. Just then he caught eyes with Tony again, and a smile grew on his face. "You coming to show me around too?"

"That sounds extremely tempting, but I have to check on my own research." Tony said, crossing her arms over her chest. Johnny's eyebrow shot up at that and a smirk replaced his smile.

"Research, huh? Need a lab partner?"

It was then when Tony let out a laugh, almost like the time where Johnny had pulled that crappy pick up line when the two had first met. She grabbed her sides, making sure she didn't hurt herself more. All the while, Sue watched her new friend and her little brother, intrigued.

"Yeah, I'm going to let the man who now has the powers of fire near my _plant-based_ research." Tony said, her sarcasm so potent that it whipped Johnny's smirk off his face. "Thanks for the joke though, I needed a good laugh."

Tony then waved to Sue and walked away to her greenhouse. Johnny watching more confused than ever. Sue looked to Johnny and smiled as she was about to walk passed him.

"Busy girl, huh?"

 ** _long ass chapter here! And there will be another post soon because I am in such a good mood to write this story. Please comment and let me know what you think._**


	8. is it hot in here?

Tony's greenhouse wasn't as big as Reed's lab, but it was much more lively with all of her plants. Everything was in a small space so Tony tried to make use of the small area and use small samples for her research and experiments. Plants like Anemone Japonica (Anemone) and Ballota Pseudodictamnus 'All Hallows Green' (Ballota) filled the room with lush green. While Aquilegia Caerulea 'Crimson Star' (Columbine), Agapanthus spec. (Lily-of-the-Nile) and Abelia Grandiflora (Glossy Abelia) filled in the green with colors.

Walking around to the small stool near her work table, Tony sat down and looked over some of her sample plants that were close to the wide window showing the city. The sun was hitting them just right to give them nutrients, but not enough to make them wilt. Tony smiled at the small flowers before leaning down and grabbing her old watering can from the floor.

"This is nice."

Tony looked up, watering can in hand, to see Sue standing in the doorway of the greenhouse. Her eyes wandered around looking at all the plant life around her before her eyes settled on Tony.

"Thanks. This is the place where I come to think and stuff. Plus I do most of my work in here." Tony explained as she started to water the plants on her work table. Sue smiled and walked over to grab another watering can from the floor and went to the small sink to fill it up.

The two watered the plants in small silence, the sounds of the city and the sprinkling of water trying to fill the silence. Eventually, Sue spoke up as she was near some of the Common Ivy growing on the glass. "So, can I ask you something?" Susan asked, gently touching the ivy spiraled on the windows.

"Sure, what's up?"

"You and my brother, is there anything I should be worried about?"

"What?" Tony turned quickly to face Susan, too quickly. The water in her watering can sloshed over the opening and soaked into her sweater. "Dammit. N-No, nothing is happening with me and Johnny." Tony said, scoffing and trying to play off her nerves. Susan though was not having it.

"You sure? What I saw back there would be labeled 'flirting'." Susan said, smirking as Tony wrung out her sweater over some of her flowers.

"Susan, I do not have any feelings for your playboy of a brother."

Susan walked over and put her watering can back where she had picked it up, then straightened up and looked Tony in the eye. The room had lost it's playful mood and had somehow turned very serious. "I'm just asking because even though Johnny is how he is, he has been different with you."

"Really?" Tony asked, her flat tone telling that she didn't believe it.

"You don't know him like I do. And from the way that he is with you, he likes you a lot more than you like him." Susan explained. Tony blinked at this, and Susan watched as a small blush appeared on the botanist's face. "Just don't hurt him, okay?"

Tony slowly nodded her head, and with a small pat on the shoulder, Susan left the greenhouse for Tony and her thoughts. Tony slowly took a seat on the stool in front of her work table and sighed, putting her head in her hands in confusion. _This is the last thing I need right now._ She slumped further until she was laying her head on the table, arms out in front of her acting like stiff pillows. Minutes passed with Tony half awake and listening to the city sounds that surrounded her. Just as her eyes closed for a second, a small tickle on the back of her left hand brought a bit more awareness to her surroundings.

She picked up her head, looking over to her hand and saw one of her flowers, the Lily-of-the-Nile, was brushing against her hand, like it was trying to console her. The flower usually sticks straight into the air because of its usual habitat on the banks of the Nile River, but the one in front of her was curved over brushing against her. Tony straightened out , causing her hand to move and causing the flower to stop is motions.

Very slowly, Tony reached over to the flower slowly as if not to scare it. Once her hand was close enough, the flower _cuddled_ into her hand like a cat; its petals tickling her skin and making Tony stare in wonder. The vine that hadn't been bugging her as of late loosened its grip on her arm and seem to recede, moving around and over her appendage like a snake. Tony took her hand away from the flower and raised her sleeve to see the vine not knotted over her arm like a cast anymore, now it loosely hung from her wrist like a set of bangle bracelets.

 _What the hell is going on?_

* * *

The next day was the day when everyone was being tested to figure out what exactly happened to them while up in space. And hopefully, figure out a way to change them back. Reed, Sue and Tony started with Ben, who was sitting on an table in Reed's lab.

"If we're going to figure out the source of the mutation, we need to isolate your recombinant DNA so we can activate positional genomes." Reed explained, moving an industrial X-ray machine in front of Ben's rocky torso. Ben looked over confused to Sue and Tony, to which Sue said,

"We have to do a physical in order to see what got zapped."

Ben, now knowing what was going on, nods his head and turns back to Reed, "Oh, why didn't you just say so?" Reed chuckled, then started up the machine to show Ben's innards. Tony examined as it showed that it wasn't just Ben's outer appearance that got changed, it was his entire being.

"His internal organs are completely solid." Reed spoke low, only so Sue and Tony could hear. All three looked over to Ben who looked shocked and confused.

"How bad is it? You know I used to smoke."

"Its nothing too bad, Ben. We're just gonna move on to something else now." Tony said, moving to get a rubber hammer to check his reflexes. Ben looked over Tony and shook his head.

"You've got a terrible poker face, kid. But do what'chu gotta do."

Tony moved and started to hit Ben's knee with the rubber hammer, but no response was made. Tony sighed, throwing the hammer back on the instrument table where she picked it up. "This isn't gonna work, your outer shell is too hard.

"I've got this."

Tony turned around just in time to see Reed pull out a hammer from a desk drawer. He walked over and held it up to show Ben before taking a breath, "Okay." With one swift hit to the knee, Ben's reflexes kicked in and his leg popped up, only to kick the chair in front of him and send it flying to the wall near the second story walk up. The chair broke into pieces against the wall and had the four adults in the room jump in shock.

Ben kept his eyes on the wall when he muttered a small, "Whoops."

* * *

Next was Susan, who was sitting in front of a large magnifying glass. Reed looked over his notes as he talked to his ex.

"It's not invisibility per se," Reed said. Tony, who had been reading over Reed's shoulder to his papers, continued his thought. "You should be able to bend light around other objects and people. Like Phosphormancy."

Reed looked up to his assistant with an eyebrow raised, "Isn't that the term for bending light with magic?"

"Yeah, but it works in this context." Tony explained. Susan cleared her throat to get them back on topic.

"Anyway, if you could control your emotional state better you could probably get a handle on your powers."

"Excuse me?" Susan asked.

"I'm saying, if you had a bit more self control, you could locate the trigger." Reed explained. Tony watched as Susan slowly crossed her arms over her chest and an agitated look came on her face. "Can you remember your exact emotions back on the bridge?"

"Anger. Rage. Frustration."

"Okay, is there anyway to duplicate that feeling? Some memory or.."

"I'm sure I can come up with something."

Tony watched the two, Reed completely oblivious to the emotions pouring from Susan's body. The tenseness was getting to the point where Tony coughed, getting the two to look at her.

"Wow, I am suddenly really thirsty, I'm going to go get something to drink and... not be here anymore." Tony said, then rushed out of the room. In the end, Susan used her powers, and accidentally pushed Reed out of his chair and onto the ground.

* * *

Tony was seated in front of Reed as he examined the vine bracelet on her wrist. He twisted and turned her arm in different directions before looking up at her.

"So yesterday it just unraveled itself?" Reed asked.

"Yeah."

"To tell you the truth, Tony, figuring out how you got your powers was a lot simpler that I thought it would be."

The botanist raised an eyebrow at her boss as he set down her arm back onto her lap. "What, really?"

"I remember after we woke up on the space station that you had one of your samples on your torso. The glass from the canister broke from the wave and when you pressed the sample into your wounds, the radiation must have fused the DNA of the plant with yours." Reed explained.

"So, the vine is like an extension of my rebranded DNA?" Tony asked.

"I think so. Has anything else happened lately? Anything you would consider unnatural or something that could be a result of the powers?"

Tony thought back to the moment in her greenhouse and started to rub the back of her hand, remembering the gentle brush of the petals. "Um, I think I was able to communicate with one of flowers in my greenhouse."

"What?"

"Yeah, I was sitting at my work table and I felt something brush against my hand. When I looked up it was one of my Lily-of-the-Nile flower samples."

Reed sat back into his chair and sighed, "Couldn't it have been the wind moving it?"

"No, the flower stands straight, its part of their biology. And this one was curved. When I moved...Reed it cuddled into my hand like a cat." Tony explained.

"Fascinating. We should do some more tests on this to figure out the full extent of your powers." Reed said. Tony nodded as Reed got up and collected his notes off his desk. "I also need to take a look at your stomach."

"Why?"

"I just want to take a look at how your healing." Reed explained. Tony nodded her head and slowly lifted up her shirt, showing the gauze the covered her stitches. Reed carefully peeled away the gauze and it wasn't till a few stunted seconds later that there was a gasp that came from the scientist.

"What? What's wrong? Is it infected?" Tony asked Reed quickly as worry set into her nerves.

He moved back and looked Tony dead in the eye before nodding his head down to her wounds. Tony looked down, her mouth agape in shock at her stitches. The smaller incisions looked completely healed with no signs of scaring, while a longer gash across her abdomen was partially healed; the rest of it tinted green. "That looks bad, Reed."

"I think you're healing yourself with help from your powers."

"My cut is green, that usually indicated that something is wrong."

"But if you had an infection, all of your other wounds would be green too. It has to do with your new biology." Reed explained, taking another close look at the wound. "I'll do some tests, just to make sure you don't have gang green or anything else life threatening."

"Thanks." Tony mumbled, her sarcasm slipping into the statement.

* * *

Lastly, there was Johnny and his overbearing power of fire. He was currently in the chamber Tony and Reed had built to hopefully figure out where his extreme heat was generating from. Reed pressed a button to the intercom in the chamber so that Johnny could hear him, "Alright Johnny, we're all set up here. Whenever your ready."

"You got it." Johnny's voice replied. After a few seconds, a surprised"Whoa!" came over the intercom, and the temperature in the chamber skyrocketed from the body temp level it was at previously.

"He seems to be heating up from his core." Reed said, looking over the screens that showed Johnny's stats. Tony tilted her head and shrugged at this.

"That makes sense. The storm could have made his powers similar to a star. The inner most core is the hottest part of a star where nuclear reactions take place." Tony explained.

Susan looked over to Tony looking rather impressed, "Wow, I never would have thought of that." She looked back at the screens and squinted at the stats, "His vitals are completely normal."

After watching the screens for a few minutes, the three scientists saw the inner temp of the chamber start to rise at an alarming rate. "It's hotter than I anticipated." Reed said, turning to Tony and Susan. He reached for the intercom button and started to talk, "Okay Johnny, back it down."

"I can go hotter!" His voice said back.

"Johnny, back it down." Susan tried, but the temperature kept rising and rising.

"Johnny stop!" Tony yelled, the bright light from Johnny's fire started to become blinding. With the hothead not listening to anyone, Reed had no choice but to slam him hands over the big red button; the fire extinguishers.

The fire died instantly, and Reed, Sue and Tony walked out of the observation deck to see that Johnny had _melted_ the titanium chamber wall. Said man was laughing as he was covered in white foam.

"Buzzkill. You guys are cramping my style." He yelled up to the group.

"Johnny, you were at 4,000 Kevlin. Any hotter and you would be approaching supernova."Sue explained.

"Sweet!"

"No, not sweet. That's the temperature of the sun."

"Not only could you kill yourself but set fire to the Earth's atmosphere and destroy all human life as we know it." Reed further explained. Tony watched as the victorious smile that was on Johnny's face fell at the mention of dying.

"Got it. Supernova, bad." Johnny held two thumbs up, looking over to Tony who held up a thumbs up before twisting it to a thumbs down.

"Very bad."


End file.
